Food and travel go hand in hand for Gail Kaley Kumpf. The east Cobb resident enjoys mimicking dishes that she tasted while traveling. Her interest started with Chicken Tetrazzini, a recipe that she received from Sal who owned Salvatore’s Restaurant (formerly on Peachtree Street across from the Fox Theater).

Kumpf said her five grown children often ask, “Do you really plan your trips around your stomach?”

Her New Orleans trip was about Eggs Benedict, New York was macaroni and cheese from Tavern on the Green, Vienna was Vienna sausage, Wienerschnitzel from Salzburg, lobster from Maine and goulash from Hungary.

Italy is the gastronomic capitol for this Marietta native. “I always go back to Italy. There’s no place like Italy for food,” said Kumpf who graduated from Marietta High School in 1963.

When Kumpf worked at the Georgia Capitol for former Speaker of the House Tom Murphy, she and other politicos often patronized Salvatore’s Restaurant, an Italian restaurant where she enjoyed Chicken Tetrazzini.

Loving the dish, Kaley tried to recreate it at home.

“I couldn’t get the taste right,” she said.

“I weaseled my way into the kitchen to see how (Sal) made Chicken Tetrazzini.”

“No one could believe that (Sal) shared the recipe with me,” the grandmother of two said.

Kumpf said Sal told her, “You’ve got to have the right butter. You’ve got to have the right chicken. You’ve got to have fresh mushrooms. You’ve got to have the white onions.”

The experience with Sal started Kumpf’s interest in recreating recipes from favorite places where she and husband Mike travel. “If I like a dish, I try to mimic it. I would even ask the cook how to do it,” she said.

“Sal’s is where I started trying to mimic restaurant meals,” Kumpf said.

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